Denmark: Coconut Dream Cake

When I started thinking about the Danish cake, this cake was at the forefront of my research. Everywhere I went it was there, seeming to scream ‘Bake me! Bake me!’ I struggled to find other recipes – it was like this cake was pushing them away, desperate to be the representative of the Danish nation. Eventually I gave in, and decided to make it. And boy, I’m so glad I did!

This cake is aptly named, the combination of light, fluffy vanilla sponge, crunchy coconut and caramel is a dream indeed. The cake is ridiculously easy to make, and keeps well – what more could you want? Make this cake – you know you want to!

This recipe is taken from the book Scandilicious, and was also found on Ed Kimber’s blog. The original recipe calls for vanilla sea salt, but as I did not have any of this, I replaced it with 1/2 tsp normal salt and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Buttermilk is generally quite easy to buy, however you can also make it by adding 1 tsbp lemon juice to a cup of milk (240ml)

Coconut Dream Cake

Ingredients:

4 eggs

300g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

150g melted butter

150ml buttermilk

300g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Topping:

200g butter

200g light brown sugar

100ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp sea salt

150g dessicated coconut

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas mark 5 and line a 20x30cm rectangular cake pan with parchment paper.

Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until thick and pale. Pour in half the melted butter and buttermilk and sift half the flour onto the batter, folding gently so as not to beat all the air out of the eggs. Add the remaining, butter, buttermilk and flour and fold in as before.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 20 minutes or until it is firm to the touch and golden brown. nce the cake is out of the oven, turn the temperature up to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7.

Whilst your cake is in the oven make the topping by putting all the ingredients in a pan and cooking over a medium heat for 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened. Spread the topping on the baked cake and place back in the (now reheated) oven for 10-15 minutes until the topping has turned golden brown and smells nice and toasty. Remove from the oven and leave to coll in the tin before cutting into squares to serve.